Archives for February 20, 2004

The researcher accidentally pricked herself with a needle that contained a weakened form of the Ebola virus last week while she was injecting mice with the virus as part of a research effort.

The woman has shown no signs of the fatal illness, but will remain at Fort Detrick for up to 30 days of isolation.

Holy cow. First, I hope that she has no infection and does well, and can resume her research into this horrific scourge.

Second, she’s probably in the best place in the world for this exposure: USAMRIID is the country’s main research facility for the most extreme biological pathogens and warfare agents. It also, if memory serves, has 4 actual BL4 hospital beds, designed for just this circumstance: infected researchers, not test subjects from outside.

The good news is that the public is in no danger at all, and so far she’s doing well. I figure this is the last we’ll hear unless things go poorly for her, so do what you do to wish her a speedy recovery.